Controlling mechanism for elevator doors and cars.



H. C. RANDALL. O0NI'ROLLING MECHANISM FOP. ELEVATOR nouns AND CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.30, 1911.

Patented Dec. 2, 1913.

2 SHEETQ-SHEET 1.

mnesses' Muzak H. 0. RANDALL. CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR 0003s AND (JARS.

I APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1911. 1,080,021. Patented Dec.2,1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z. V

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. HORATIO C. RANDALLOF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR ANNA S. RANDALL, SAN FRANCISCO, LCALIJEORNIA. l

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR DOORS AND CARS.

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, HORATIO C. RANDALL,

a citizen of the United States, residing at 15, at the same time the device will be actuated so that upon arriving at the floor of the elevator shaft the door will be automatically opened. vOn ceasing to operate the apparatus the door will be automatically closed and the power can be applied to start'the car.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 l is a vertical section of an elevator car, show ing the door and the actuating mechanism in I front elevation; Fig. 2 is a detailsectional view of a valve used therewithfFig. 3 is a similar View of ahandle; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. '1 showing the apparatus as applied to a hydraulic elevator car. I

Referring to the drawings, 1indicates a floor of a building, through which extends an elevator shaft, and 2 indicates a door movable over the edge of the floor adjacent to said shaft and supported by rollers 3 running on a track 4. 5 indicates a car-movable vertically in said shaft.

-6 indicates a lever pivoted at 7 upon the casing 8 of the elevator shaft and having a slotted portion 9 engaging a pin 10 upon the elevator door, so that it can close or open the door by its rocking movement. A rocking movement is imparted thereto by means of a piston rod 11 having a slotted connection 12 with the lever 6 and connected to a piston 13 which reciprocates in a cylinder 14 suitably secured upon said shaft casing, To reciprocate the piston compressed fluid is admitted to either end of said cylinder by a pipe 15 leading to a four-way valve 16 from which valve leads a conduit 17 'to one end of the cylinder to operate the piston to close the door, and a conduit 18 to the other end to operate said piston to open the door. The fourth passage of the valve is adapted Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 30, 1911.

Patented Dec. 2, 1913. Serial No. 605,426.

the ends of which is pivoted a shifter 29,

comprising a central portion 30 between said arms. The arm 28 1s extended rearwardly beyond its pivot, away from the shifter, and pivoted extends through the floor of the car, and is connected to a lever. 32 having a fulcrum'33 secured to the under side of the floor of the car. 34 indicates a pedal, secured to a stem 35 extending through the floor of the car, and pivoted at its lower end to an arm 36 of a lever fulcrumed at 37, a weight 38 being connected to another arm 39 of said lever to raise the pedal when relieved from the pressure of the operators foot. To the outer end of the arm 36 is connected a link 40, which is attached to an arm 41 of a threeway valve 42, to which compressed air is conducted by a flexible pipe 43. The threeway valve 42 connects with an exhaust outlet through a muffler 44. Upon the depression of said pedal by an operator, said threeway valve 42 is operated to admit compressed air to a pipe 45 connected to two branch pipes 46, 47. The pipe 46 leads to a cylinder 48, supported by a hanger 49 from the floor of the car, the piston rod 50 of which cylinder is connected to said lever 32. Said lever 32 is retracted by a spring 51. The piston thus operates said lever to move thereto is a depending rod 31, which downwardly the rod 31 and upwardly the.

shifter 29, so that, when the elevator car arrives at the proper position, adjacent to the floor of the elevator landing, said shifter engages the slide rod 21 and moves it longitudinally against the pressure of the spring 22 to turn the valve16 to admit compressed fluid to the cylinder '14 to open the door. Should the car he stopped at any position other thanwhen the floor of the car is substantially alined with the floor of the building, the shifter 29, on being moved outward willnot contact with and move the rod '21 to cause the door to open.

power is already shut oii, the cross head is moved into a position in which it can obstruct the rotary movement of a guard 57 pivoted at 58. When the car is operated by electricity, as shown in Fig. 1, the guard 57 is connected to the electric controller by means of a link 59 extending into the elevator car and connected at its upper end to an arm 60 on the shaft 61 of the elevator controller. In the modification shown in Fig. 4, in which the elevator is operated by hydraulic power, the guard 57 is connected to an arm 62 connected by a link 63 with the lever 64 for controlling the elevator. With either form of motive power, the result is that the car cannot be again started until the pressure of the operators foot is withdrawn from the pedal. There is sometimes found a tendency of a hydraulic elevator car to descend, when the power is shut ofl, owin to leakage of the pressure water. -To avoi this result, in the construction illustrated in Fig. 4, the piston rod 54 passes through a gland 65, which is screwed in the head of the cylinder 52, so as to be adjustable therein to limit the upward movement of the piston rod, so that a slight movement can still be given to operating lever 6 to admit suiiicient ressure water.to compensate for leakage and prevent the elevator car fromdescen'ing.

A rod 66 is connected to the outer end of the arm 39, and the upper end of said rod is connected to a bell crank lever 67, so that the aforesaid mechanism for controlling the compressed air can be operated by hand, if desired. The operating arm 68 of said bell crank lever is provided, as best shown in Fig. 3, with a spring actuated latch 69, adapted, when the bell crank lever has been operated, to be pressed into a notch 70 in the stationary shaft ofsaid lever, and being held therein against the .spring tension, by the friction of the in on the side of the notchcaused by the weight 38. When the latch is to be released, the operator merely gives the handle 68 a light blow, which releases the latch and allows the lever to move downward. Upon the operator withdrawing his foot from the pedal then, unless the bell crank lever 67 is in its locked position, the weight 38-acts to return the pedal to its upper position, whereupon the three-way valve moves to disconnect the pipe 45 from the compressed-air-supply pipe 43 and to connect it with the exhaust through the muf- Her 44, whereupon the interiors of the cylinders 48 and 52 are again restored to atmospheric pressure, and .the operating mechanism can be again actuated and the car started.

In order to regulate the speed at which the car may be started, I provide avalve 7 3 in the pipe 47 which throttles the exhaust from cylinder 52 so that the downward speed of the cross head 55 may be controlled. By this means, the speed at which the guard 57 may be rotated is governed and hence the rate at which the speed of the car may be accelerated is controlled. By adjusting the valve 73 various rates of acceleration are obtainable.

I claim 1. In combination with an elevator car, i

and a door therefor, pneumatically operated means for opening the door, a movable device carried bythe car, and adapted in one position to actuate said door-opening means, a device for controlling the power for operating the car, and pneumatically operated means for simultaneously locking said latter device and moving saidformer device into its operative position, substantially as described.

2. In combination with an elevator car, and a door therefor, pneumatically o erated means for opening the door, a mova le device carried by the car, and adapted in one position to actuate said door-opening means, a device for controlling the power for operating the car, and pneumatically operated unitary means for limiting the extent of movement of said'latter device and moving said former device into its operative position, substantially as described.

8. In combination with an elevator car,. and a door therefor, pneumatically operated means for opening the door, a movable device carriedby the car, and. adapted in one position to actuate said door-opening means, a device for controlling the power tor operating the car, pneumatically operated means for simultaneously-locking said latter device said former device into its operand automatic means for restoring said means to its normal position, substantially as described.

4. In combination with an elevator car,

and moving ative position,

and a door therefor, pneumatically operated means for opening the door, a movable device carried by the car, and adapted in one position to actuate said door-opening means, a devicefor controlling the power for operating the car, means for simultaneously locking said latter device and moving said former device into its operative position, automatic means for restoring said means to its normal position, and a hand-operated device for preventing the operation of said automatic means, substantially as described.

. trolling the movement of thecar, a shoe on iloeopai the car adapted to engage with and control said door moving means, said shoe being movable into and out of operative position with respect to said door moving means, and pneumatically operated means for moving said shoe into operative position and simultaneously moving the car controlling means into inoperative position.

7. In an elevator, the combination of a movable shaft door, pneumatically o erated means for moving the door, means or controllingv the movement of the car, a shoe on the car adapted to engage with and control said door moving means, said shoe being movable into and out of operative position with respect to said door moving means, pneumatically operated means for moving said shoe into operative position and simultaneously moving the car controlling means into inoperative position and locking said means in such'position.

8. In an elevator, the combination of a movable shaft door, pneumatically operated means for moving said door, a device on the car for controlling said moving means, a lever for controlling the movement of the car, a rocking arm actuated simultaneously therewith and means operative simultaneously with said door controlling means for moving said rocking arm to the central position. v

9. In an elevator, a lever for controlling the movement of the car, said lever being movable to either side of the neutral posi-- tion, a movable shaft door, means for operating said door a foot pedal in the car and means operated by the movement of said pedal adapted to move said lever to the neutral position and actuate said door operating means.

10. In an elevator, the combination of a movable shaft door, means for moving said door, means on the carfor controlling said door moving means and means-for operating said controlling means comprising a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder operatively connected to said controlling means,

a conductor for supplying a fluid under pressure to said cylinder, a valve in said conductor and means Within the car for operating said valve.v

11. In an elevator, the combination of a movable shaft door, means for moving said door, means on the car for controllingsaid door moving means and-means for operating said controlling ineans comprisinga cylinder, a pistorwinsaid cylinder operatively connected to said control ling means, arconthe movement of the car, said lever being movable to either side of theneutral position, a rockingarm attached to said lever and movable therewith, a cross head arranged parallel to saidarm when the lever is in neutral position, manually controlled means for movin 7 said cross head toward said arm to move 1t toward its neutral position and means for governing the speed at which said cross head is movable away from said arm.

13. In an elevator, a lever for controlling the movement of the car, said lever being movable to either side of the neutral posi tion, a rocking arm attached to said lever and movable therewith, a cross head arranged parallel to the neutral position of said arm, a cylinder, a piston in said cyl inder connected to said cross head, manually controlled means for admitting fluid under pressure into said cylinder to move the cross head to move the arm toward its neutral position, means for shutting off communication between thecylinder and the compressed fluid, means for moving the cross head out oftherange of said arm and means for controlling the rate of said movement.

14. In an elevator, a lever for controlling the movement of the car, said lever being movable toeither side of its neutral position, manually controlled power operated means for moving said lever to its neutral position, and means for controlling the speed at which said lever may be moved from its neutral position.

15. I11 an elevator, a lever for controlling the movement of the car, said lever being movable to either side of its neutral position, and manually controlled means for movingsa-id lever toward its neutral position, said means operating to allow a movement of the lever for a distance less than its full throw to either side of neutral position. I

16. In an elevator, the combination of a movable shaft door, means on the car for controlling the movement of said door, a lever for controlling the movement of the car, movableto either side of its neutral position and means operated by said door my hand in the presence of two subscribing controlhngmeans for moving said lever to- Witnesses. ward its neutral position, and for control HORATIO C. RANDALL. ling the speed at which the lever may be Witnesses: 5 moved from its neutral position. FRANCIS M. WRIGHT,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set D- B. I HA S- Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addre ng the Commissioner 0! Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

